Conventional battery testers are generally wasteful in terms of energy. Evaluating the operating conditions of a battery generally includes measuring the voltage change between a loading period and a recovery period when it is connected to a load. A typical load consumes all energy delivered to it. This type of testing results in energy loss through the dissipative load and limited information gathered about the health status of a battery.
Each current method of testing batteries has additional limitations. The DC load method of testing batteries requires a high power rating resistor connected to the battery under test to measure the voltage and current. However, the resistor heats up over time, and the battery status cannot be represented accurately. The AC conductance method injects an AC signal between 80 Hz to 100 Hz using an RC-network circuit. However, this method does not consider the charging status of the battery under test and cannot obtain individual parameters of the model. The electro-chemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) method injects multiple frequencies between 20 Hz to 2000 Hz using an RC-network circuit a and is able to establish all parameters in the RC network circuit. However, the testing period is long due to the multiple frequencies used, and it does not consider and test any charging status of the battery under test.
For the foregoing reasons there is a need for a battery tester that is more efficient and considers more information relevant to calculating the health status of a battery.